Fire-escape



entrai) :STATES PATENT onirica- SYLVESTER PENFIELD, OF HARTFORD,CONNECTICUT.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

`oecication of Letters Patent No. 1,505, dated March 3, 1840.

To all 'whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, SYLvnsTER PENFIELD, ofHartford` in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, haveinvented a new and useful Machine to Assist in Extinguishing Fires andin Rescuing Persons or Goods from the lindows or Doors of the Lo-fts ofBuildings on Fire; and I do hereby declare -that the following is a fulland exact description, reference being had to kthe annexed drawings ofthe same, makingpart of this specification.

The nature of my invention .consists in erecting a single pole, column,or shaft, properly supported at the base of suflicient length andstrength vertically in front of and contiguous to the door or windowfrom which persons or goods are to be taken` or when used to extinguishfires, to be placed in a suitable position for that purpose. Up thisshaft one or more persons may elevate themselves at pleasure, standingin a frame called thecage', by means of the rack and pinion action, thepinion being turned by a crank or cranks by the person or persons in thecage.

To enable such mechanics as are in the habit of executing similar workto make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation.

Figure l is a perspective view of the fire escape. Fig. 2 is a frontview of the rack and pinion, ratchet wheel, pawl and brake. Fig. 3represents the manner of attaching the foot of the brace to the slidingblock and the screw for moving it when it is required to adjust theshaft. Fig. l `represents the spring bolt in the foot of the brace forsecuring` it to the slide. Fig. 5 is a ver-Y tical section of part oneof the arms showing the mortise and the block to which the brace isattached sliding therein and the screw for moving it.

The shaft a n the accompanying drawing/. -The length of this may be suchas to reach any desirable height and its proportionable size should besuiiicient to prevent tortive and lateral'action when in use. To insurethe more strength and stiffness with a small amount of material, Iusually construct the shaft of four pieces of plank so jointed togetherlongitudinally as to form a square hollow tube. A shaft so constructedof the length of l0 feet should be about l() inches square. To form abase to the shaft, and to preserve it in a vertical position1 I extend apiece of timber, Zi, b, o, b, from each of its sides, atthe foot atright angles called the arms. The length of the arms should beproportioned to the height of the shaft, say about 7 feet to 40. rhearms are connected to the shaft by metallic fastenings which form ahinge, permitting the arms to be folded up, against the sides of theshaft, to facilitate transportation. To give steadiness and firmness,braces c, c, c, c, are extended from the arms to the shaft. The bracesare in like manner connected to the shaft by metallic joints, similar toand for the same purpose as those just described. Nothing peculiar isrequisite i-n the construction of these joints; an idea-of the manner inwhich I usually construct them may be obtained by inspecting thedrawings at el.

essary sometimes to adapt the arms to un- 'even ground, I have resortedto the expee dient (in the case of the arms and brace in question) ofmaking the footing of the brace movable in the arm by means of ahorizontal screw s passed through a sliding blocker piece of metal asshown at lt, Fig. 5, in the drawing, where the front side ofthe partforming the mortise is represented as being removed, the better to showthe action of the internal apparatus the foot of'said braceL beingattached to said sliding block which is moved by vthe screw. It may besometimes necessary to place the machineV very near to the building. Inthis case the arm and brace on the rear side may be removed. Tofacilitate this operation, I usually cut out the pin hole in the tenonsofthe brace, and also that of the arm as represented at b in sections,Fig. l of the drawing. The fas'- tening in these cases is effected by aspring bolt represented at e and d, in sections A and B, of the drawingFig. 4. The bolt is shown as withdrawn at c and as thrust home to itsplace at ci. The feet of vall the braces may be attached to slidingblocks of metalV pierced with female screws to admit male screws overlwhich they are to move backward and forward by turning said screws asrepresented 1n Figs. 3 and 5 m order to adjust the shaft; this mode 1spreferred.

To render the moving of the machine to` small distances from place toplace when in operation, easy, I apply rollers or casters,

e, e, e, e, of the common construction to the arms near their outerends, I use lateralV braces B2 made of round iron, to preserve theangular position of thel arms, andto Vsteady them; these are made fastat one end by a staplelpassing through a hole in that end of it,fwhichis then driven into one of the arms, while the other end isrmadetov hook into a staple in the next arm. A rack f with cogs or teeth toreceive those of thev pinion la is made fast to the front Vside of theshaft extending vertically alon its surface quite to its top, which`comp etes the` description of the shaft with itsbase.

The cage D.-This I VConstruct byiirst making a square frame of smallscantling,

consisting of four upright pieces g, g, g, g,

about feet in length connected by straps i of iron or otherwise at eachend. The inzside dimensions of this frame must be such as to receive theshaft loosely within it, Near each end of this frame' friction rollers47L,'L`, 71 h, are placed. on each of its four sides. The pivots of thefriction rollers are Y inserted intothe pieces of scantling forming theframe. These rollers .are intended to diminish friction between theframe 'andV thel shaft as the cage'rpasses upfand .down the shaft. Anarbor, t; is made to extend quite across the frontv of the Vframe nearits upper end having a crankV orwinch W at eitherg end, turning insuitable boxes which are lmade fast to the two front upright piecesofthe frame.` This .arbor serves as an axis for the pinion "lb, :whichis so adjusted upon it, as .to coincidev with and ply into 'therackorshaft already described. On the same arbor are c wo'otherV wheels Fand G (not seen in Fig. l, but seen inFiggEZ) of'about v`the' samediameter as the pinion the one G with saw-like shaped teeth to receive ahook or click H serving as va detent to retain/the cage with its burdenat any Idesirable height. The other F vis a smooth wheel intended -tolgovern the velocity of the "cage in itsV de*v Yscent without"V the aidof the `cr`anks;this

purpose. is effected .by a lever VLrwhich" is made to`bear `upon theperiphery ofthe wheel and thereby create friction, by a per'v sonwithinthe cage,` the -principle of 'this Y action being thesame as 1severy day seen needs here no further explanation. VTo complete the cagesemicircular` platform,` Z,r of 3 to 4 `feet radius is aiiixed toward,the lower end of the frame already described,v being supported bysuitable stays m, m, m, m, being made fast to the upright partsV of theframe. Y A protecting railing-n, n, a, n,

isV erected around thejplatform extending vertically `from'its uppersurface say 3 to L feet. The back side `ofthe cage is armed with anapparatus which I denominate the shield 0. This is `simply plates 0fpolished sheetiron to reiect` the heat coveringthe back-side of thecage,H on each side of the shaft. "As -a furtherprotection a plate ofsheet iron pis adapted to slide in grooves formed in the frame work ofthe cage to a height equalingfor exceedingthat of a man standing in thecage;` Holes (l, g, are made in these slides'through which the pipe of'i the hose may befpointed when the machine is usedto extinguish fire.Saidshield may likewise be composed of wood and iron combinedthe woodbeing on the inside to serve `as a non-conductor of heat and the iron onthe outsideto prevent the `woodfrom burning. i i p 1 A Y The operationofthis machine -l` think may be readily inferred from the.foregoingVdescription. Suffice it to say in addition, that when persons orgoods-are to be received from the'windowsor doors `of the lofts ofbuildings the `machine being erected and adjusted in the'properlpositionya person enters the 1 cage, and by turningthe Vcrankelevates himself to the proper height,

thefcage then're'sting or sustaining itself` by means of the click,proceeds to receive the persons or goods Sinto" the cage, A and with'themrdescends graduating the Vdescent either by the crank orfrictionzwheely When used to extinguish fire the operator receives thepipe and so much of the hose as lsineces-4 sary into, the cage whichaffords him ample roo1n and convenience for effectually di rectingthewater.

*What Iclaim asmy invention andzdesire to secure by Letters Patent is il. Combining with the movable platform plates of polished metal orofwood and metal combined as herein set forth the said plates sliding ingrooves at'thezbackof the platform and servingas fire shields to pro- Atect those upon it from the flames.

a' 2.1,-jThe l. mode of keeping the shaft in a vertical position soasito adapt it'to any inequalityofsoil by means of the followingcombined arrangement viz: `the arms 7) hinged tothe Vshaft soV as toadmit of their being raised o r loweredin combination with the braces 0attached to the'blockt, moving lated by means of a screw'sall as heredescribed.` i 4 v l. SYLVESTER PENFIELD. lVitnesses y WILLIAM P. ELLIOT,EDMUND MAHER.,

rio

i 1n a'mortise'fin the aforesaid arm b and regu-

